WIFE.--No, no! you must arrange me, as I will not so much as let him point a finger at you. SERVANT.--Well, then, if it comes to my getting a scolding, I count on you, ma'am, as an intercessor. WIFE.--Of course. I will intercede for you; so do you please arrange me. SERVANT.--In that case, be so good as to sit down here. WIFE.--All right. SERVANT.--I fear it will be uncomfortable, but I must ask you to put your head under this. WIFE.--Please arrange me so that he cannot possibly know the difference between us. SERVANT.--He will never know. It will do very nicely like this. WIFE.--Will it? SERVANT.--Yes. WIFE.--Well, then! do you go and rest. SERVANT.--Your commands are laid to heart. [_He moves away._ WIFE.--Wait a moment, Taraukuwazhiya! SERVANT.--Yes, ma'am. WIFE.--It is scarcely necessary to say so, but be sure not to tell him that it is I. SERVANT.--Of course not, I should not think of telling him. WIFE.--It has come to my ears that you have been secretly wishing for a purse and silk wrapper.[174] I will give you one of each which I have worked myself. SERVANT.--I am extremely grateful for your kindness. WIFE.--Now be off and rest. SERVANT.--Yes, ma'am. _Enter husband, singing as he walks along the road._ Why should the lonely sleeper heed The midnight bell, the bird of dawn? But ah! they're sorrowful indeed When loosen'd was the damask zone. Her image still, with locks that sleep Had tangled, haunts me, and for aye; Like willow-sprays where winds do sweep, All tangled too, my feelings lie. As the world goes, it rarely happens even with the most ardent secret love; but in my case I never see her but what I care for her more and more:-- 'Twas in the spring-time that we first did meet, Nor e'er can I forget my flow'ret sweet. Ah well! ah well! I keep talking like one in a dream, and meantime Taraukuwazhiya is sure to be impatiently awaiting me. I must get home. How will he have been keeping my place for me? I feel a bit uneasy. [_He arrives at his house._] Halloo! halloo! Taraukuwazhiya! I'm back! I'm back! [_He enters the room._] I'm just back. Poor fellow! the time must have seemed long to you. There now! [_Seating himself._] Well, I should like to tell you to take off the "abstraction blanket"; but you would probably feel ashamed at being exposed.[175] Anyhow I will relate to you what Hana said last night if you care to listen. Do you? [_The figure nods acquiescence._] So you would like to? Well, then, I'll tell you all about it: I made all the haste I could, but yet it was nearly dark before I arrived; and I was just going to ask admittance, my thoughts full of how anxiously Hana must be waiting for me in her loneliness, saying, perhaps, with the Chinese poet[176]:-- He promised but he comes not, and I lie on my pillow in the fifth watch of the night:-- The wind shakes the pine trees and the bamboos; can it be my beloved?